Possible connections between whiskered categories and groupoids, many object Leibniz algebras, automorphism structures and local-to-global questions

Abstract

We define the notion of whiskered categories and groupoids, showing that whiskered groupoids have a commutator theory. So also do whiskered $R$-categories, thus answering questions of what might be `commutative versions' of these theories. We relate these ideas to the theory of Leibniz algebras, but the commutator theory here does not satisfy the Leibniz identity. We also discuss potential applications and extensions, for example to resolutions of monoids.